With so many new singers hitting the streets every day in Nashville, where did you find your source of motivation?
    There are a lot of great people in the music industry that have taken a chance on me. I constantly find myself sitting in rooms with some amazing singer-songwriters and cannot believe that I am getting to create music with them. As the new guy in town, I often feel that I don’t even deserve to be in the same room with them, but I am honored to be there. Everyone that I have had the great fortune to work with has been open and supportive. We all share the same goal: making great music. I know that Nashville is such an amazing place for music: in almost every restaurant, school, church and just about every street corner, there are people playing guitars and singing their hearts out. I am appreciative of the people here who have helped me and by the caliber of art here. The creativity of Nashville inspires me!

Tell us about your shows and how it came to be that you are such a high energy performer.
    I grew up studying music artists and people who loved to entertain others. It didn't matter what genre or style of music: pop, rock, country. I was mesmerized by people who could make me stop in my tracks and drop whatever I was doing just to watch them. I loved writing songs with my friends but taking the song and moving it to a live stage was always important to me too! When I’m on stage, I want to create an escape for people who need it and a party-type atmosphere for others who come just to have fun. If people at the shows are out there singing along with our songs or laughing at me tripping over something on stage, they can at least take a break from any stress or worries which they may be experiencing in their own lives.

The lines of music are so blurred today, so why country music for Ty Williams?
    To me, country music is about real people. I'm just an ordinary guy to whom extraordinary things happened. I was a country music fan growing up, and I loved it because I could relate to the artists and I felt like they related to me. These country stars sang about real life. They told real stories, often heartbreaking but also very uplifting. The songs moved me in ways I could have never imagined. And, to me, the fans are the real stars because they decide what stays and what goes. They know what they like. As a fan too, I feel this extreme pride to get to make music that tells a story about real life, how we are all connected and share in a kind of human experience that makes us all better! What I love most about country music is the responsibility I feel to carry on the tradition of playing for the people and honoring all of the legends who paved the way before us.

Did your time serving in Iraq influence your style of music? Tell us about that.
    Up until about high school, I wasn't a huge fan of serious songs or the power ballads. I loved the party anthems and fun up-tempo songs in the mid-1990s. In high school and certainly while I was in Iraq, life got very real for me. I went through those things which proved to me that life isn't just a game. I wrote my first complete songs in Iraq, mostly because I had a lot of emotions and found that writing them down in song form helped me escape. It was therapy. When we were on missions outside of the wire or when I needed to stay awake, I would sing those songs. I still try to write and sing fun up tempo party songs, but it definitely made me appreciate the impact of the more serious songs too.

How did you deal with coming home from such a war torn country where most Americans have no real sense of what is happening over there?
    I think most Americans don’t know what is happening over there. I found comfort in my friends and family though. There are a lot of soldiers who went over to serve in Iraq longer than I did and a lot who didn't make it home. I think coming to Nashville to pursue my dream of creating music is a way of honoring the troops over there whose lives were cut short. We owe it to those heroes who gave the ultimate sacrifice to truly live our lives and follow our dreams to the fullest ability. I don’t take the responsibility I feel to my fellow soldiers lightly. Much is given, much is expected. Being a part of the country music family is very sacred to me. Nothing is a given, we all have to take chances and live responsibly and follow our dreams!